The city of Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, is attempting to solve the dilemma facing mothers with child care time constraints who still want to work. By promoting the introduction of jobs with working hours as short as two hours per day, two days per week, the city is working to address its labor shortage and remove barriers for women seeking to enter the workforce.
In the late afternoon at Terrace House nursery in Toyooka, nursery assistant Yoshimi Kawami, 34, checks on napping kindergartners while fetching a blanket. Kawami, who also assists with feeding and cleaning, works at the nursery from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. three days per week.
After earning her qualification in child care at a vocational college and moving to Toyooka to get married, Kawami became a stay-at-home mother. She enjoyed raising her daughter, but "only having contact with just my family, I began to want my own free time," she said.